10 Positive Classroom Behaviors: Examples and How to Teach Them

Positive classroom behaviors, often called good behaviors, are the actions students practice and repeat that let a class learn together: listening, following directions, taking turns, working in a group, asking for help.

10 positive behavior examples for students (quick list)

Each of the 10 positive behaviors for students below is defined by what a student does:

1. Active listening: responds to what the speaker just said.
2. Following directions the first time: starts the task after one direction.
3. Coming to class prepared: has materials out when class starts.
4. Taking turns to participate: raises a hand or uses the class signal, then waits to be called on.
5. Respectful communication: uses names and disagrees with a reason.
6. Collaborating with a group: does an assigned role and makes sure everyone gets a turn.
7. Asking for help appropriately: tries one fix-up step, then signals for help using the class routine.
8. Staying on task and finishing work: works through the work period and turns the work in.
9. Following routines and transitions: moves between activities on time with the right materials.
10. Showing kindness and including others: invites, helps or makes room for a classmate.

Behaviors 3, 7 and 8 double as academic behaviors: the habits that get work started and finished.

What each behavior looks like, and how to teach it

Teach each behavior like a math procedure: show it, contrast it with a non-example that you act out briefly, prompt it just before it’s needed (pre-correction) and name it when students do it. The Center on PBIS practice guide recommends the same components: teach expectations “using examples and non-examples” and prompt skills before they are expected (Center on PBIS, 2025). Grade-band examples are illustrations, not developmental norms.

1. Active listening

Looks like / sounds like: responds to or paraphrases what the speaker just said.

• K–2: Repeats one thing a classmate said.
• 3–5: Asks the speaker one question about their idea.
• 6–8: Writes down one point from a peer’s answer.
• 9–12: Paraphrases a classmate’s point before adding their own in a seminar discussion.

Teach it: Model it, then the non-example (talking over the speaker). Before discussion, pre-correct: “Before you add an idea, say back what the last person said.”

Reinforce it: “You paraphrased Maya’s point before you added yours. That’s active listening.”

2. Following directions the first time

Looks like / sounds like: begins the first step within the time you set (about 30 seconds for a short direction) after one direction. If a student’s IEP or 504 plan includes repeated directions or extra processing time, the plan’s version is the standard.

• K–2: Lines up after a single signal.
• 3–5: Opens the math notebook to the right page.
• 6–8: Starts the warm-up from the board.
• 9–12: Follows a multi-step lab procedure in order, checking the written steps.

Teach it: Give the direction once, with the steps written up. Act out the non-example (a slow start), then have students show the fix. Pre-correct before transitions: “One direction, then go.”

Reinforce it: “You started right away and used the steps on the board.”

3. Coming to class prepared

Looks like / sounds like: the listed materials are on the desk at the bell.

• K–2: Folder and pencil box on the table after arrival.
• 3–5: Homework folder in the turn-in bin before morning meeting.
• 6–8: Notebook and pencil out, or borrowed from the ready bin, at the bell.
• 9–12: Brings the reading and annotations for the day’s discussion.

Teach it: Post a three-item “ready” list by the door and practice the first minute of class. Non-example: hunting through a backpack after the bell. The day before, pre-correct: “Tomorrow you need the novel.”

Reinforce it: “Your notebook was open before the bell, so we started on time.”

4. Taking turns to participate

Looks like / sounds like: raises a hand or uses the agreed signal and waits to be called on.

• K–2: Speaks while holding the talking object during circle time.
• 3–5: Raises a hand, then lowers it when someone else is called.
• 6–8: Keeps to the timer in a turn-and-talk, 30 seconds each.
• 9–12: Builds on the previous speaker in a structured discussion.

Teach it: Name the routine for each format: hands for whole group, a timer for partners. Act out calling out and let students fix it. Before discussion: “Hands up, wait to be called.”

Reinforce it: “You waited until Jordan finished. Thanks for taking turns.”

5. Respectful communication, including disagreeing respectfully

Looks like / sounds like: uses classmates’ names and gives a reason when disagreeing, often with a sentence starter.

• K–2: Asks “Can I have a turn?” before taking materials.
• 3–5: Says “I disagree because…” during a math talk.
• 6–8: Replies to a peer’s discussion-board post by quoting it and giving a reason.
• 9–12: Challenges the argument, not the person: “I see it differently because…”

Teach it: Post two or three sentence starters. Act out one disagreement rudely, then respectfully, and have students name the difference. Pre-correct before debates and votes.

Reinforce it: “You used Ana’s name and gave a reason for disagreeing. That’s how we debate in here.”

6. Collaborating with a group

Looks like / sounds like: does the assigned role, contributes at least once and checks that everyone has had a turn.

• K–2: Shares materials in a partner task.
• 3–5: Keeps a role card (reader, recorder, timekeeper) for the whole activity.
• 6–8: Splits a task list and reports progress at the check-in.
• 9–12: Logs each member’s contribution in the group’s planning document.

Teach it: Assign and model roles. Non-example: one student doing all the work. As groups form, pre-correct: “Everyone names their role before you start.” During group work, use active supervision: move, scan every table and stop briefly to prompt or praise.

Reinforce it: “Your group gave everyone a role and stuck to it. That’s collaboration.”

7. Asking for help appropriately

Looks like / sounds like: uses one fix-up step (rereads, checks the example), then signals for help using the class routine.

• K–2: Puts up a help card.
• 3–5: Asks a table partner before asking the teacher.
• 6–8: Writes the question on a sticky note and moves to the next problem while waiting.
• 9–12: Brings a specific question after class: “I don’t get step 3.”

Teach it: Teach three steps (try, check, ask) and compare a vague request with a specific one. Before independent work: “Stuck? Try one thing, then flip your card.”

Reinforce it: “You told me exactly which step was confusing. That made it quick to help.”

8. Staying on task and finishing work

Looks like / sounds like: working on the assigned task when you scan the room; work turned in by the end of the period.

• K–2: Finishes a center activity before the timer.
• 3–5: Works through the full 15-minute independent block.
• 6–8: Completes each section of a lab report using a checklist.
• 9–12: Breaks a long assignment into dated steps and meets them.

Teach it: Show on-task for this activity, and the non-example (a third trip to the pencil sharpener). Chunk longer work. Pre-correct: “First three problems by the timer.”

Reinforce it: “You kept going on the hard problem and finished the set. That’s sticking with it.”

9. Following routines and transitions

Looks like / sounds like: moves between activities within the set time, with the materials needed.

• K–2: Reaches the carpet before the cleanup song ends.
• 3–5: Switches from reading to math in under two minutes.
• 6–8: Comes in, picks up the handout and starts the warm-up.
• 9–12: Moves from mini-lecture to lab stations without a reminder.

Teach it: Break each routine into steps and practice against a timer. Non-example: chatting at the supply shelf as time runs out. Pre-correct with a two-minute warning.

Reinforce it: “Everyone was at a station in 90 seconds. That was a quick transition.”

10. Showing kindness and including others

Looks like / sounds like: inviting a classmate in, offering help or making room. These acts are easy to miss in a scan, so note them in a quick log.

• K–2: Asks a classmate who is alone to join the game.
• 3–5: Moves over so a new student can sit at the table.
• 6–8: Asks a quiet group member for their idea.
• 9–12: Introduces a new student to a lab partner or a club.

Teach it: Model one act and its non-example (“This seat’s saved”). Have the class list what including someone looks like. Pre-correct before students choose partners.

Reinforce it: “You asked Sam for an idea. Now the group has heard from everyone.”

Positive reinforcement examples that work

Start with behavior-specific praise: it costs nothing and names the behavior a student just showed. The Center on PBIS guide recommends at least five specific praise statements for every correction (5:1 or higher), and more for students who show social, emotional or behavioral risk (Center on PBIS, 2025). Treat 5:1 as a practice target, not a proven cutoff.

Weak praise → strong praise.

• Weak: “Good job, everyone!”
• Why it fails: it doesn’t tell students which behavior to repeat.
• Strong: “Table 3, you checked that everyone had a turn before you voted. That’s collaboration.”

Positive reinforcement means following a behavior with something the student values, so the behavior happens more often. Examples of positive reinforcement in the classroom run from social to tangible; each counts only if the behavior increases afterward:

1. Behavior-specific praise, given privately to students who dislike public attention.
2. A two-sentence positive note or email home.
3. A positive call home, working through the class list over the term.
4. A written comment on work that names the behavior.
5. Choosing the warm-up activity or the read-aloud.
6. First pick of seats for the next activity.
7. Extra minutes of a preferred class activity when a class goal is met.
8. A classroom job, such as discussion leader.
9. Peer shout-outs, where students write specific praise for a classmate.
10. Small tangible rewards for younger students, faded to praise and privileges once the behavior is routine.

Three pitfalls:

• Inconsistency. Acknowledgement that depends on the teacher’s mood, or reaches some students and not others, teaches that the rules move.
• Group punishment dressed as a group reward. “Nobody gets the party if one person talks” puts one student’s behavior on the whole class. Set reachable goals; never take back what was earned.
• Systems older students find babyish. For teenagers, swap sticker charts for privileges, choice and private feedback. Public clip charts are out at any age: the Center on PBIS calls them inconsistent with PBIS and potentially harmful (McIntosh, Sugai & Simonsen, 2020).

When some students need more: supports by domain

If a few students still struggle after a behavior has been taught and practiced, add a classroom support. Each one below helps a student show one of the 10 behaviors. Write supports down and share them with co-teachers and paraprofessionals.

Ten supports, five domains

Weak support → strong support.

• Weak: “Reminders as needed.”
• Why it fails: nobody knows who gives the reminder, when, or whether it happened.
• Strong: “Before each whole-group discussion, the teacher taps the ‘hand up, wait’ card on [Student]’s desk. Whoever leads the discussion logs on the weekly fidelity sheet whether the card was used and how many times [Student] called out.”

For autism-specific supports, see IEP accommodations for autism. When a break routine is written into a student’s IEP, it often sits alongside self-regulation IEP goals.

Students with IEPs or 504 plans

For students with IEPs or 504 plans, the individual plan governs. Under IDEA, when a student’s behavior impedes their learning or that of others, the IEP team must consider positive behavioral interventions and supports, and other strategies (34 CFR §300.324(a)(2)(i)).

The school must make the IEP accessible to every teacher and provider responsible for it, and tell each one their specific responsibilities and the accommodations, modifications and supports they must provide (34 CFR §300.323(d)). A classroom plan is the floor those supports build on, not a substitute for a functional behavioral assessment or an individual plan; replacement behaviors belong in behavior IEP goals.

Put it in a one-page classroom behavior plan

A classroom behavior management plan is a one-page Tier 1 plan: what you expect, how you teach it, how you acknowledge it and how you respond when it doesn’t happen. It applies to every student and sits under any schoolwide PBIS system.

The What Works Clearinghouse practice guide for elementary classrooms gives its strong-evidence rating to two recommendations: modify the classroom environment to decrease problem behavior, and teach and reinforce new skills (Epstein et al., 2008). A review by Simonsen and colleagues points the same way: maximize structure, teach and reinforce expectations, engage students, and acknowledge and respond to behavior along a continuum (Simonsen et al., 2008).

Positive classroom rules: 3–5 expectations

Write three to five expectations with your students, stated as what to do. The Center on PBIS guide (2025) recommends that teachers “co-develop, define, post, and explicitly teach a few (3-5) positive classroom expectations” and warns against more than five. Students who help write them also hear the reasons. If your school has schoolwide expectations, use those words and define them for your room. The 10 behaviors sit under these expectations; they aren’t 10 more rules.

Weak expectation → strong expectation.

• Weak: “Be respectful,” posted with no definition.
• Why it fails: nobody can count “respectful” until you say what it looks like in each routine.
• Strong: “In group work we use each other’s names, take turns speaking, and disagree with ‘I see it differently because…’.”

Expectations by routine

A small matrix turns each expectation into behaviors for each routine:

Teaching, acknowledging and responding

Teaching schedule. Teach one routine a day in the first two weeks, where it happens. Run short booster lessons after long breaks and when the data dip.

Acknowledgement. Use the reinforcement list above, with behavior-specific praise as the base.

Continuum of responses. Respond from least to most intrusive, the same way for every student unless an IEP, 504 plan or behavior plan sets a different response:

1. Proximity: move near the student.
2. A nonverbal prompt: a look, a gesture, a tap on the cue card.
3. A quiet redirect that states the expected behavior: “Hands up, wait.”
4. A one-minute private reteach, then a chance to do it right.
5. A private conversation after class about what happened and what to do next time.
6. A call home to share the pattern and the plan, ideally after an earlier positive call.

Lost recess, public behavior charts and sending students out aren’t part of this plan; follow your school’s discipline policy for anything beyond a call home.

Model it yourself. If you expect respectful disagreement, disagree with a co-teacher that way in front of the class.

Data check. Review the plan with the weekly scan below.

Checking the plan: a fidelity checklist and a weekly data scan

A plan works best when every adult applies it consistently. Two checks keep it honest: a fidelity checklist for the adults and a weekly data scan for the class, built around one 15-minute observation block that a co-teacher, para or coach can take while you teach. In a walkthrough, a coach or administrator looks for students who can tell you the expectations, a teacher who moves and scans, frequent chances for every student to respond, praise that reaches most students and outnumbers correction, and corrections that are brief, private and specific.

Fidelity checklist

• Expectations are posted and stated positively, no more than 5.
• Each of the 10 behaviors has been explicitly taught (modeled and practiced), with the date logged.
• Behavior-specific praise meets the 5:1 target in the weekly tally, or a praise target is set.
• Acknowledgement is applied consistently across students and days.
• Responses to misbehavior follow the posted continuum, the same way for every student, except where an individual plan sets a different response.
• Supports from the table above are written down and shared with co-teachers and paras.
• Expectations are re-taught after long breaks and when the data dip.
• The weekly scan is done and reviewed each month: incidents by routine, praise-to-correction tally, on-task scan.
• Once a month, incidents and corrections are checked by student group (for example, students with IEPs, English learners), and any pattern goes to the PBIS team.

Weekly data scan and monthly decisions

• Praise and corrections: tally both during the same 15-minute block each week, in two columns on a sticky note.
• Minor incidents by routine: one tick per incident in a grid of routines by days, using your school’s definition of a minor incident.
• On-task scan: five times in one work period, spaced by a timer, count how many students are on task; record the average as a percentage.

Monthly decisions (or after any long break). These are local decision rules, not research cutoffs:

• The routine with the most ticks → re-teach that routine’s expectations for a week.
• Praise-to-correction ratio below 5:1 (the PBIS target above) → set a praise target for the next two weeks.
• On-task average below about 80% two weeks running → check pacing, task difficulty and how often every student gets to respond.
• Two or three students account for most incidents → add supports from the table above and talk to your school’s PBIS or student support team. If a student has an IEP or 504 plan, tell the case manager.

An illustrative week

One co-taught class, one sample week (the numbers are made up to show the format):

Print a blank copy (one page, no sign-up): Download the accommodation fidelity checklist (PDF, one page)

A classroom lesson on respectful disagreement

Behavior 5 is a social-emotional skill as much as a classroom routine, and it is easier to practice with a structure. In “Respecting Others,” Lesson 4 of the Social Awareness unit for grade 9 in Ori Learning’s Emotional Well-Being Curriculum, an SEL curriculum for grades 6–12, students first respond to an updated Golden Rule: “Treat others as they want to be treated.” Do they agree? The lesson then separates respect from agreement: “Respect doesn’t mean that you agree with someone’s actions or ideas. It means that you believe they deserve to be treated with dignity for being a fellow human with their own lived experiences.”

Two practice activities follow. In “Retweet,” students choose a post they disagree with and write a respectful response. In “Unpopular Opinion,” each student posts a light-hearted opinion, such as “Sports are boring,” to a class collaboration board, then picks a classmate’s opinion and responds respectfully. Pair the lesson with behavior 5’s sentence starters.

A meta-analysis of 213 school-based SEL programs, kindergarten through high school, found better social and emotional skills, attitudes and behavior among participating students, and an 11-percentile-point gain in achievement, with school staff delivering the programs effectively (Durlak et al., 2011). That research covers SEL programs in general, not any one curriculum.

More on Positive Classroom Behaviors

What is positive behavior in the classroom?

Positive behavior in the classroom is any action that helps students learn together, such as listening, following directions, taking turns and showing kindness. Useful definitions are observable: something a teacher could see, not a trait like “good attitude.”

Which are examples of positive classroom behaviors?

Ten good behavior examples for students are active listening, following directions the first time, coming to class prepared, taking turns to participate, respectful communication, collaborating with a group, asking for help appropriately, staying on task and finishing work, following routines and transitions, and showing kindness and including others. Each one can be taught and praised by name.

What are some examples of positive behavior supports in the classroom?

Positive behavior supports in the classroom include three to five positively stated expectations, explicit teaching of each routine, pre-correction, active supervision, behavior-specific praise and a consistent continuum of responses. Students who need more can get a visual cue card, sentence starters or a break routine.

What is a classroom behavior plan?

A classroom behavior plan is a one-page Tier 1 plan listing your expectations by routine, when you teach them, how you acknowledge them, how you respond to misbehavior and how you check the data. It applies to every student and doesn’t replace an IEP or an individual behavior plan.

Related Resources

• SEL-based behavior management strategies
• creating a classroom behavior plan
• SEL activities that reinforce positive behavior
• SEL vs. PBIS

Sources

1. Center on PBIS. (2025, April). Supporting and responding to students’ social, emotional, and behavioral needs: Evidence-based practices for educators (Version 2). University of Oregon. https://www.pbis.org/resource/supporting-and-responding-to-behavior-evidence-based-classroom-strategies-for-teachers
2. McIntosh, K., Sugai, G., & Simonsen, B. (2020, February). Ditch the clip! Why clip charts are not a PBIS practice and what to do instead. Center on PBIS, University of Oregon. https://www.pbis.org/resource/ditch-the-clip-why-clip-charts-are-not-a-pbis-practice-and-what-to-do-instead
3. Epstein, M., Atkins, M., Cullinan, D., Kutash, K., & Weaver, R. (2008). Reducing behavior problems in the elementary school classroom (NCEE 2008-012). Institute of Education Sciences, What Works Clearinghouse. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide/4
4. Simonsen, B., Fairbanks, S., Briesch, A., Myers, D., & Sugai, G. (2008). Evidence-based practices in classroom management: Considerations for research to practice. Education and Treatment of Children, 31(3), 351–380. https://doi.org/10.1353/etc.0.0007
5. Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405–432. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x
6. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act regulations, 34 CFR §300.324(a)(2)(i) (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-34/section-300.324) and §300.323(d) (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-34/section-300.323).